Ftn (TV channel)
Ftn (Flextech Television Network) was a British television channel from Virgin Media Television (formerly known as Flextech) transmitting free-to-air on Freeview and Virgin Media, and as a subscription channel on Sky Digital. The channel was broadcast between 18:00 and 06:00 daily. It launched at 18:00 on 15 January 2003, six hours after neighbouring Freeview channel, UKTV Bright Ideas, also partially owned by Virgin Media Television which itself closed down on 14 October 2007.
Ftn | |
---|---|
Launched | 15 January 2003 |
Closed | 1 October 2007 |
Owned by | Virgin Media Television |
Replaced by | Virgin1 |
Timeshift service | Ftn+1 |
Availability (at time of closure) | |
Terrestrial | |
Freeview | Channel 20 |
Satellite | |
Sky Digital | Channel 153 Channel 154 (+1) |
Cable | |
Virgin Media | Channel 122 Channel 123 (+1) |
UPC Ireland | Channel 129 |
Ftn's schedule featured entertainment and reality programming, and also programming from other Virgin Media Television cable channels, such as Living, Living2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, and Challenge. This provided a preview to Freeview viewers of what the other Virgin Media channels offered, in a similar fashion to BSkyB's Sky3, a channel also on Freeview.
Ftn +1 launched on Sky and Virgin Media on 9 August 2007. Despite being a one-hour timeshift, Ftn +1 only broadcast from 19:00 until 01:00 as Live Roulette TV which was shown on Ftn from 00:00 till 03:00 could not be rebroadcast an hour later for legal reasons.
Programming
- 3-2-1-Challenge
- 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry-Living
- A-Z of Bad Boys-Bravo
- The Best Of Beadle's About-Challenge
- Blues and Twos-Bravo2
- Booze Britain-Bravo2
- Booze Britain 2: Binge Nation-Bravo2
- Boston Legal-Living
- Bob and Margaret-Living
- Bullseye-Challenge
- Catchphrase-Challenge
- Celebrity Poker Club-Challenge
- Celebrity Poker Showdown-Challenge
- Close to Home-Living
- Cold Squad-Bravo
- Costa Del Street Crime-Bravo
- The Crystal Maze-Challenge
- Date My Sister-Trouble
- Da Vinci's Inquest-Trouble
- Dead Famous-Living
- Dilbert-Living
- Dog the Bounty Hunter-Bravo
- European Poker Tour-Challenge
- Fifteen To One-Challenge
- Fort Boyard-Challenge
- Ghost Towns-Living
- Gamepad-Bravo2
- Gladiators-Challegne
- Hellraisers' Handbook-Trouble
- Hollywood Star Treatment-Living
- Increase Your House Price By £10K-Challenge
- Incredible Edible Challenge-Challenge
- Inside Spearmint Rhino-Trouble
- Kath and Kim-Living
- The Krypton Factor-Challenge
- The L Word-Trouble
- Laid Bare-Bravo2
- Masters Of Horror-Bravo2
- Most Haunted - Series 1 to 7 showing on Ftn
- Most Haunted Almost Live!
- Most Haunted Live!
- My God, I'm My Dad!
- Night Stalker
- Nothing To Declare
- Poker Superstars
- Police Beat-Bravo2
- Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
- Shock Movie Massacre
- Showbiz Poker
- Sin Cities
- Stars in Their Eyes
- Stakeout
- Street Crime UK-Bravo
- Takeshi's Castle-Challenge
- Teleshopping (from 5am-6am)
- Telly Addicts-Challenge
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
- The Ultimate Fighter
- The Warehouse
- Travel Sick
- World Series of Poker
- The X-Files-Bravo
- Wayside
Closure
It was announced in the summer of 2007 that Virgin Media Television was to launch a new channel, Virgin 1.[1] The new channel launched on Monday 1 October 2007.[2] The channel being intended to be Virgin Media's attempt to rival Sky1.
As a result of the launch of Virgin1, it was revealed that Ftn would close, leaving its EPG positions on Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview to Virgin 1.[3]
Ftn closed on Monday 1 October 2007 at 06:00 with Virgin 1 launching at 18:00 but actually at 21:00 on the same day.[4] The last programme shown was Incredible Edible Challenge. At the same time, Ftn's timeshift channel Ftn+1 was replaced by Virgin1+1 on cable and satellite. With the sale of VMTV to Sky in 2010, led to Virgin1 rebranding as the Channel One before being closed on 1 February 2011.
References
- "Virgin Media Television announces Virgin 1". Virgin Media Press Office. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
- "Virgin 1 launch date announced". Digital Spy. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- "Launch of Virgin 1 on Freeview". Freeview.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-08-21. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
- "Ftn/Virgin 1 schedule (1 October 2007)". Radio Times. Retrieved 2006-09-19.